"More to Come!" (Luke 20:27-40)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“There came to [Jesus] some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked Him a question …” (Luke 20:27-28a).

 

Just as the Sadducees asked Jesus a question, I would like to ask you all a question: What is the leading cause of death? Ponder that one a moment. Is it heart disease? Could it be a stroke? What about cancer or diabetes? What is the leading cause of death? It’s actually conception. The leading cause of death is being conceived. You see, as soon as God formed you and began knitting you together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13), you are on the way to death. Is this the point in life? Is this it?!

 

For the Sadducees who came to Jesus to ask Him this question about the resurrection, they believed that was it. They believed the thought of any bodily resurrection was utterly ridiculous. They could not fathom the idea that people would rise out of their graves and their bodies would live again. 

 

One play on words that I have heard and taught about these Sadducees is that they were sad, you see, because they didn’t have anything more to look forward to than what happened before death. For the Sadducees, when death came, they had no joy and they had no hope, since that’s all she wrote. Again, they were sad, you see.

 

So, these Sadducees ask Jesus an elaborate question as to prove to Jesus that the resurrection was preposterous: 

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife”(Luke 20:28b-33).

 

My first thoughts when preparing this sermon was: what a mess! This sounds more like a daytime talk show. Instead of asking, “Are you the father?” It’s like Maury asking, “Who is the true husband?” This is a perfect script for a daytime talk show. And all too often, those daytime talk shows aren’t exactly truthful. This is also the case here.

 

But I will say this, there is some truth to this question of the Sadducees. You see, they are bringing up what is known as the levirate marriage law from Deuteronomy 25, which states: “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go into her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel”(Deuteronomy 25:5-6).

 

Now, clearly, these Sadducees realize how outlandish their question is, even with the levirate marriage law. They are asking this question only as a gotcha question. And this question is not about marriage. It is centered on the resurrection. They are trying to show how ludicrous the resurrection is if such a scenario could result in the life to come. So, “at the resurrection,” they ask, “whose wife will she be?”

 

They think they have trapped Jesus between a rock and a hard place. 

 

But then Jesus says to them essentially, “Your question isn’t going to matter, since there will be no more need for marriage at the resurrection.”

 

You see, Jesus solves this question by distinguishing between two ages: the present age and the age to come. 

 

The key purposes for marriage in the present age are for procreation, the raising up of children in the fear and knowledge of God, and, of course, companionship. None of these will be needed in the resurrection because we will not die, and we will be in perfect communion with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

In the age to come, there will be neither birth nor death. And there will be no marriage. We will simply be sons and daughters of God, sons and daughters of the resurrection.

 

But Jesus is never content in just answering questions. He digs deeper to the root cause of their question: unbelief. Jesus digs deeper as He brings up Moses at the burning bush – today’s Old Testament lesson. He recalls that day when He spoke to Moses as He told him to take off his sandals for where Moses stood was holy ground. He said to Moses: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). To the Sadducees, Jesus adds: “Now He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to Him” (Luke 20:38).

 

Keep in mind, as God spoke those words to Moses, these three patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – had been long dead. But how does God speak of them? Jesus speaks of His relationship to them as being present. This means that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still living! 

 

So, what the triune God is proving to Moses and the Sadducees is that human relationships certainly end with death, but the relationship a person has with God lives on forever. Or to put it another way: The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of God endures forever (Isaiah 40:8; 1 Peter 1:23-24).

 

What Jesus is saying is that there is still more, much more, than what we may realize. We weren’t created by God just to die. We were created by God to live.

 

The Sadducees rejected the resurrection, which is maybe why there were two Sadducees – Annas and Caiaphas – who ended up orchestrating Jesus’ arrest and ultimate execution. They thought by simply eliminating Jesus would fix the “Jesus problem.”

 

Now, you may not be denying the bodily resurrection, but the spirit of those Sadducees of yesteryear still lives on among us. Have you ever thought that this life is all that there is? Sometimes, those doubts are there. The grave looks so final. How could I bodily resurrect through a casket, a vault, and all while being six feet underground? Could this life be it? Am I just to ultimately become worm food? That is the Sadducee spirit swirling around in our hearts and minds.

 

And if you’ve thought that, you are in good company. Remember what Christ’s apostles were doing that first Easter? They were hiding behind locked doors out of fear of the Jewish authorities. They were like the Sadducees then. They were denying all those times Jesus taught them that He would rise again the third day. 

 

Then suddenly, Jesus appeared to them, and He calms their fears. He said, “Peace be with you”(John 20:19) and then showed them His hands and His side. He let them touch Him. The apostles went from there was no more, to there is so much more!

 

Like the apostles, we need to believe our God is the God of the living and not of the dead. The resurrection is all about Jesus turning our losses into victories, our death into life, our sorrow into joy, our weaknesses into strength, our futility into glory.

 

That day, the living God was standing before those Sadducees. Soon they will kill Him. But even though from eternity, the Second Person of the Trinity had no physical body, this God would not even now shed His physical body, but He would take it up again. Christ’s death would restore the day when we “cannot die anymore, … being sons [and daughters] of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36).

 

Today, the living God is here, although to the naked eye, He is hidden in His Word and Sacraments. Jesus says to us this day that there is more to come, a lot more to come! Today, He comes to give us the medicine that forgives our sins, known as the Medicine of Immortality. He says to us, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:53-56).

 

In Christ, there is life – eternal life, after death!

 

So, repent and believe and receive the fruits of His cross and of His resurrection: forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation for there is so much more to come – yours and my resurrection! For if you are in Christ, you will live forever! Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"Blessed are We" (Matthew 5:1-12)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

 

“Seeing the crowds, [Jesus] went up on the mountain, and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him. And He opened His mouth and taught them” (Matthew 5:1-2).

 

Today, the one holy Christian and apostolic Church observes the Festival of All Saints. The joy of this feast day is in its celebration of the unity of the Church Triumphant – those saints gathered already into rest in Christ Jesus – and the Church Militant – the present and future Church that struggles still under daily crosses. Together, both the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant constitute but one communion, one fellowship divine.

 

On this observance of All Saints, a good question to ask is who are the saints? Typically, there are three common usages for that term “saint.” The most common usage of the word “saint” are for those exceptional Christians whom from tradition or a very formal process has granted the letters “St” be placed before their names. We can think of St. Paul, St. Peter, St. Augustine.

 

The second-most common usage of “saint” is a sort of street usage of that word, like “She’s such a saint to put up with that!”

 

The third-most common usage of “saint” are those Christians who’ve died and have gone to heaven. There is certainly something to each of these definitions of “saint.”

 

But the Biblical definition of “saint” is a bit different. You see, this word “saint” comes from the Latin rendering the Greek hagios, or “holy ones.” A “saint” is a “holy one.” And who are these holy ones? Those who “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”(Revelation 7:14b).

 

To be holy requires not just a lot of patience or the endorsement of the Church, it requires being without sin. And you know what, St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. Augustine were sinners and were each incapable of cleansing away their own sin, just as we can’t wipe away our own sins. 

So, to be without sin requires having our sins taken away. And our sins can only be taken away through the perfect sacrifice: the blood of Jesus’ death on the cross, received by faith. So, a saint – a holy one – is one who believes Jesus has died to save him or her from their sins.

 

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus emphatically says that His saints are blessed. He says, “The One who is meek, merciful, a peacemaker. You are a saint. You who are poor in spirit. You are a saint. You who hunger and thirst for righteousness. You are a saint. You who are persecuted for His sake. You are a saint.” Jesus says His saints are blessed!

 

But this is the opposite of what the Jews then expected. You see, most Jews during Jesus’ earthly ministry expected the Messiah to be, first of all, a military and political leader who would deliver them from the yoke of Rome and establish a prosperous Jewish earthy kingdom that would lead the world. They expected the Messiah to be greater than any other king, leader, or prophet in their history. In fact, after Jesus fed the five thousand, the people tried to make Jesus their king by force. These Jews saw Jesus as their anticipated leader who would create a great welfare state as He would provide for all their routine physical needs. But Jesus would not let Himself be mistaken for that sort of a king.

 

Instead, they got this Jesus, who calls the poor, blessed; the meek, blessed; the peacemakers, blessed; the persecuted, blessed. The Sermon on the Mount and its Beatitudes are utterly contrary to those of human reason.

 

But in order to properly understand this sermon of Jesus, we must keep in mind the audience. The audience was, primarily, Jesus’ disciples, although a large crowd who had been following Jesus were evidently in the background listening in. The purpose of this sermon was to give Christ’s disciples a better understanding of the God-pleasing life. However, an unbeliever may interpret Jesus’ words today as a prescription for making oneself righteous and earning a place in the kingdom of God. But that is not what Jesus is teaching.

 

You see, Jesus’ Beatitudes do not tell us how to become blessed, but they rather describe the blessedness that already belongs in Christ. These Beatitudes do not describe eight kinds of believers, but they tell eight ways all Christians are blessed.

 

Again, all Christians are poor in spirit. Christians all mourn and all are meek. Christians all hunger and thirst for righteousness and are all merciful and pure in heart. Christians are all peacemakers and are persecuted for righteousness.

 

Jesus says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Those who are poor in spirit recognize their spiritual poverty, their sinfulness and unworthiness in God’s sight. They realize that they sin daily and deserve nothing but present and eternal punishment from God. These “poor in spirit” admit that their efforts at living up to God’s standards as expressed in the Ten Commandments fall miserably short.

 

You see, God demands one hundred-percent performance, but we – you and me – are stuck at zero. So, how do we qualify to be numbered as heirs of the kingdom of heaven? Well, we are like empty vessels ready to be filled. As the “poor in spirit,” we know that we can only become rich before God though faith in Christ Jesus. 

 

You see, it is only by Christ’s perfect obedience to all of God’s commandments and His sacrificial death on the cross for all the sins of the world – and by His resurrection and ascension – that we are numbered in the kingdom of heaven. And oddly enough, God the Father gives us all the credit for Jesus’ perfect righteousness. It is only through Jesus’ blood and merit that the spiritually poor become rich by faith.

 

And so, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). The meek are not boisterous and demanding and they do not insist on their own rights without consideration with others. The meek endure mistreatment without retaliating. Like Jesus, the meek place the matter of vengeance in God’s hands. And to the surprise of many, by faith, these meek will inherit the earth.

 

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Our hearts are naturally sinful and unclean. Our hearts are filthy. Our hearts need constant cleansing. So, it is appropriate that after we hear God’s Word proclaimed, we so often join King David as we call upon the Holy Spirit to “create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). By faith, Jesus makes us pure through His blood and merit.

 

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). Peacemakers actively strive to make peace when there is enmity or hostility. They offer their services as mediators between warring nations or quarreling relatives or hostile neighbors. 

Insofar as possible, the peacemakers strive to live in peace with all people (Hebrews 12:14), but they are to be always ready to contend for God’s truth and justice when circumstances require it. Although peace is always desirable, peace at any price is not acceptable. Even Jesus said that He – the Prince of Peace – would disrupt peace. So, His saving Gospel would divide families, but true peace is only given when we are at peace with God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. 

 

And so, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). For sure, if we are persecuted or punished for wrongdoing, we have no right to complain. But we must also expect to suffer at times for saying and doing what is right. That is what happened to Jesus, so that we must expect the same from the fallen world. 

 

We can recall how all of God’s prophets suffered persecution at the hands of sinful men who should have welcomed and honored them. This has not changed, because sinful humanity does not change. Even to this day, Christians who publicly confess the Holy Scriptures as God’s inerrant Word persecute those who proclaim the whole counsel of God to them. So often, we are prone to compromise or overlook what God so clearly says in His Word. But all who remain faithful to God’s truth will be richly rewarded in heaven. And again, this reward is all by God’s grace through faith in Christ, not yours or my merit, but by Jesus’ blood and merit alone.

 

Each of these Beatitudes remind us of the blessedness that belongs to all who are in Christ. And if you are in Christ, you are truly blessed.

 

You and I are holy because He has washed us in His blood. By faith, you are among the blessed. So, blessed are we, for Jesus continually blesses us through His Word and His Sacraments. He blesses us through His Word so that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. He blesses us through His Sacrament as we receive the blessings of His cross: forgiveness of sins, eternal life and salvation. By faith, He makes us who are poor in spirit, the richest in the kingdom of heaven and all through His blood and His merit. In Jesus, yours and my sins are forgiven, so rejoice and be glad for our reward is great in heaven! In Jesus, we are declared saints and we are blessed to be united with the Church Triumphant as we, with them, constitute one communion and one fellowship divine. Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

                                                + SOLI DEO GLORIA + 

"Set Free" (John 8:31-36)

Listen to the Sounding the Scriptures POPcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Jesus said to the Jews who had believe in Him, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).

 

Today, the one holy Christian and apostolic Church observes Reformation Day. We set today apart, or in particular October 31, as we remember how the triune God inspired an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther to bring His Church back to its roots, the source – the very Word of God in teaching the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ so that we would be set free from sin, death and the devil.

 

But prior to the Lutheran Reformation, most people had no clue that anything was wrong with the Church. The people just did as the Church told them. Normally, this kind of faith would be admired, but not when the Church is corrupt. You see, at this time, the Roman Church had become hopelessly corrupt. It was so corrupt spiritually as hardly anyone was being taught or could even recite the Ten Commandments, the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer and yet, the Roman Church still called them Christians. They didn’t know the basics of the faith. On top of this, the Roman Church was fiscally corrupt as it funded the construction of the new Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul in Rome through indulgences, which through the pope’s authority would “supposedly” shorten temporal punishment in purgatory still due for sins.

 

There were so many problems. The Roman Church was certainly corrupt. And the people were enslaved to this corruption. 

 

The people back then likely did not hear much about today’s text but they surely knew of the Church’s traditions.

 

Now, in today’s text, Jesus is addressing those who believe, and yet, they do not believe. To be sure, Jesus is speaking today to people who were willing to listen to Him, but they did not quite trust Him. You could say, they had a belief in Jesus that was superficial.

 

We hear about this elsewhere in the Gospels, of those many who desired to crown Jesus as their king, but very shortly, they just walked away. We hear about this vividly in the Parable of the Sower. There, Jesus described those on the rocky soil as those who, “when they hear the Word, [they] receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away” (Luke 8:13).

 

There is certainly some faith there, but it was superficial, so when any stress comes upon them from the world, they walk away. This was the fact of many who could confess Jesus as their Lord privately, but they wouldn’t dare confess Jesus as Lord publicly out of fear of being put out of the synagogue (John 9:22). 

 

So, why the fear? Well, it’s because they needed to be set free!

 

The problem is that the hearers don’t realize that they need to be set free. They think everything is just hunky dory. 

 

So, Jesus says to them: “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). To this, the hearers respond: “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” (John 8:33).

 

Apparently, these Jews needed a lesson in their own history as a people. They have been enslaved by so many civilizations: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Syria. Even at that present time, they were subjects of Rome. So, from all outward appearances, they were far from being free. In fact, one of the ideas for the promised Messiah was to be a mighty warrior so the Jews would have control of their land. So, this idea that the Jewish people were never enslaved was very far-fetched.

 

Plus, just a relationship to Abraham will not save anyone. Abraham was saved by His faith in the one true God. He wasn’t saved by his blood type or by who he knew. He was saved purely by God’s grace through His faith in Him.

 

But Jesus goes deeper than just outward appearances. Jesus is never just at surface level. Jesus is never satisfied with just talking about the symptoms. You see, Jesus always gets to the root causes. He gets to the problem.

 

Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the Son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34-36).

All people need to be set free from slavery. And this slavery is the bondage to sin. Just before today’s text, Jesus said: “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). Jesus followed this up with: “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).

 

Like the Jews then, we too, often believe that we are not enslaved. And what does it mean to be enslaved? Well, to be a slave is to be totally under the control of another and is not able to free oneself. Sin is akin to an addiction. We sin and keep on sinning. Sin entices us. It’s that forbidden fruit that feels so good to bite, but it leaves us with nothing. Sin causes us to lust at others who are not your spouse, but ends up with committing adultery with them in your heart. Sin causes us to lose our tempers; to hold grudges; to harbor resentment. Sin causes us to gossip and listen to rumors; to take pleasure in talking about the faults of your neighbor.

 

Today’s world does not like to admit that it is enslaved. Even, we Christians, God’s own dear children, can find ourselves living and acting as though we were still in chains – not free to be for God or for others what He has set us free to be.

 

So, what is going on here? What is this slavery?

 

Well, it’s a slavery of the ears. It is caused by listening. But listening to the wrong voices and to the wrong message. The Jews back then were listening to anything, anything other than Jesus’ own words. Jesus said, “Abide in My Word,” but they would have none of that. They didn’t want to accept all of His teaching and remain faithful to His Word. No way!

 

But it is Christ’s Word that sets us free! He sets us free from the slavery to other voices, so that we can listen to Him! 

 

Earlier in John 8, the Pharisees asked Jesus: “Who are you?” (John 8:25). Who is this Jesus? “Before Abraham was, I am,” He says (John 8:58). Jesus is the perfect Son of the Father, from eternity, fully and completely God and man.

 

As the perfect Son, Jesus obeys the Father. He carries out the Father’s will as no one else ever had, and as no one ever could. He completes the work. He even puts the stamp on completion by saying: “It is finished” (John 19:30).

 

The only way for sinners to be released from our bondage to sin and its penalty, which is eternal death, is to be united by faith in Jesus Christ, who in His death and bodily resurrection provides deliverance. Christ died so that we would live and live forever by faith in Him! 

 

Having died to sin in Christ, sin is no longer our master. Instead, we become free to be servants of God and of His righteousness. So, listen to the voice of Jesus and be set free! 

 

Back then, the Jews just would not listen. They stopped their ears. For you and me, on this Reformation Day, listen to Jesus’ voice and be set free from slavery to sin.

 

Jesus, who is Truth incarnate, set us free as He willingly laid down His life for you and me. Upon His crucifixion on the cross, Jesus set us free from our slavery to sin, so that we could live forever by repentance and faith in Him!

 

Despite our filthy sin, Jesus is greater than all sin. He died for you. He rose for you. He ascended for you. He declares that you are His. He died, so that all who cling to Him would live forever!

 

Jesus died and rose, so that we can always turn to Him in our times of need: when we lust, lose our tempers, hold grudges, gossip, or any other kind of sin. So, when the fallen world, our sinful nature, and the devil tell us to pursue sin that flows from our desires, listen to Jesus. Turn from that sin and turn to Him.

 

Jesus says you belong to Him. And since you belong to Him, He promises to always protect you, so that you are free to serve Him.

 

Here in the Divine Service, Jesus declares us free as He releases us from slavery to sin. Here, we listen to Jesus’ liberating words of our absolution. Here is where yours and my faith is strengthened through Christ’s body and blood given to us which forgives our sins as He leads us to resist slavery to sin.

 

Jesus has set us free! Through His death, we are free from slavery to sin, death, and the devil. Through His death, He declared us sons and daughters of God! So, let us abide in His Word! Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"Preach the Word" (2 Timothy 3:14-4:5)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:1-2a).

 

Today’s text seems pretty simple. It explains itself. What more could I even say to this fantastic text? Afterall, there is a reason this text is always proclaimed at pastoral ordinations and installations. This text appears to have everything we need to hear when it comes to the importance of the Bible and for what the Bible is used for.

 

So, what is the importance of the Bible? Well, it is a unique collection of books, because each book contained in the Bible is “God-breathed.” What makes the Holy Scriptures so important is that they and they alone reveal the way of salvation, which is through faith in Jesus Christ alone. No other book on earth so articulately proclaims the truth of yours and my salvation.

 

The Bible is also unique in that it was written by men through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So, when you read God’s Word, you are reading words that are divinely inspired. You are reading the very Word of God. So, if you ever wonder what God thinks, just open up your Bible and read.

 

You see, it is the Holy Spirit who brought about these writings. They were willed by God and determined by God. The Holy Spirit moved the writers to write in the way they did for these Scriptures are truly the very Word of God.

 

St. Peter wrote: “No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was every produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).

 

And since the Bible is the very Word of God, it contains not a single error. The words contained from Genesis to Revelation contain no errors, since God is incapable of ever making a single mistake.

Since God’s Word is true, it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that we would be complete and equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

 

The Holy Spirit forms us through God’s written Word. He gives us knowledge. He calls us to repentance over sin. He corrects us through the Word. He trains us through discipline and instruction as we live out the Christian life in repentance and faith. 

 

Each written word in the Scriptures was inspired by the Holy Spirit for our benefit. So may we so hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them that, by patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life through our Lord Jesus Christ!

 

But there’s a problem. Now, there’s no problem with the Bible. The problem is with you and me. 

 

St. Paul writes to Timothy: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

 

“For the time is coming.” Here, Paul is looking to the future, a future for which Paul wants to prepare Timothy. Paul is preparing Timothy for the bad times to come. A future in which is our reality today. 

 

For the time is coming when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but will listen to their itching ears for what they want to hear. This time is today.

 

Here, Paul is distinguishing between what people need to hear and what people want to hear. What people need to hear is “sound doctrine.” It is sound because it is what God wants said. “Sound doctrine” comes from God, and it produces spiritual health. 

 

But ever since the Fall of Adam, humanity has tried to usurp control over God’s Word. Satan inferred that God was lying to Adam and Eve, so they tried to take control to be “like God” even though they were already made in His image. All they did was lose God’s likeness when they ate of the forbidden fruit. Likewise, the children of Israel also complained, criticized and condemned the Lord. 

 

We are not too different from our ancestors who nagged and nitpicked God’s grace. Yours and my sinful nature would rather not put up with sound doctrine, because it does not say what we want to hear. It’s because sound doctrine exposes our sin and proclaims condemnation. Sound doctrine does not flatter us with a recital of what great things we have done. So much of God’s sound doctrine does not make sense to our human reason.

 

So, what does sinful humanity do? It does what sinful humanity has always done. It will look for teachers who “suit their own passions” by turning “away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3, 4).

 

So, we look for teachers and preachers who will scratch our itching ears. We become cats or dogs looking for a good scratch. So, we look for teachers and preachers who flatter our egos, who gives credit to man, who satisfies our natural desires and lusts, who preaches to human reason, who reinterpret Scripture to correspond to human reason.

 

And whenever the Church blesses what God condemns, it stops being the voice of Christ. It becomes an echo chamber of the fallen world. You see, the Gospel calls sinners out of darkness, it does not hold the sinner’s hand in that darkness and encourage the sinner to remain in darkness.

 

But Jesus welcomed everyone, pastor! Yes, He did. But He never left anyone unchanged. And that’s the point. He welcomed an adulterous woman, but He said, “Go, and sin no more!” (John 8:11). He dined with tax collectors, but He called them to leave behind their thievery. You see, grace does not re-write sin. Grace redeems the sinner from sin. But sinful man cannot bear this tension. It wants acceptance without repentance; affirmation without transformation.

 

The message goes from take up your cross to drop the cross, because God wants you to be yourself because He made you that way. It goes from repent and believe to affirm and belong.

 

Actual compassion tells the sinner when he is sinning. Actual compassion admits the log in your own eye, because you want to remove the splinter in your neighbor’s eye.

 

Jesus did not die to validate all sinful desires. Jesus wasn’t crucified so that we could all remain in sin. Jesus died to crucify our sinful desires; those desires of the flesh. And Jesus sent the Holy Spirit so that we would not give in to the desires of the flesh.

Today, there are so many ear-scratching teachers and preachers at churches that once proclaimed sound doctrine, but are now teaching what God’s Word so plainly and repeatedly condemns, such as sexual immorality and women’s ordination.

 

God never gave His Church any authority to redefine sin. Christ is still the ruler of His Church. He doesn’t call on pastors to make new rules. His pastors are to simply be His servants as we go about doing what He has said. So, when you hear things like, “We must listen to the spirit of our age,” always remember that the Holy Spirit literally inspired men to write the very Word of God. The Bible was written by God. And He is not going to move in the spirit to our modern age, which is different from the way He wrote the Bible.

 

In short, these ear-scratching teachers and preachers preach anything except God’s revealed truth. So, they will never expose sin and never lead the sinner to any godly change.

 

Thanks be to God that you are here! So, you are like Timothy. Now, you are not a pastor, like me, but you are still like Timothy, because you have not given up. You are enduring. Paul writes to Timothy: “But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5).

 

Here, Paul is encouraging Timothy and us, so that we are able to continue in faith as we “continue in what [we] have learned and have firmly believed” – that is, “the sacred writings, which are able to make [us] wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14-15). Being encouraged, we do as Paul encouraged Timothy: we preach the Word.

 

You see, Jesus has commissioned all of us to make disciples of all nations by teaching all that He has commanded us. He has called us to speak of the hope we have in Christ Jesus to all who have ears to hear. 

 

Now, it is true that we have different emphases on this calling. For I have been given the authority to preach and teach through my calling as an ordained servant of the Word. But you, too, have a similar calling. Yes, I am to proclaim God’s Word publicly. But you have a role, too, as you proclaim your faith through your various God-given vocations in life as father or mother, brother or sister, educator or student, boss or employee, friend and neighbor.

 

But you may say? It’s not the right time. To that, God’s Word says: It’s always the right time. It’s always a good time to proclaim the Word. In season or out of season, because God’s Word is always in season.

 

We preach the Word, because His Word will not return to God empty. For He proclaims: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11). 

 

This Word is Jesus Christ. He is the One who suffered, died, rose, and ascended to save us from our sinful self, the devil, and this fallen world. So, we preach Christ crucified. For the One who said, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34) forgave us.

 

We preach the Word, because Jesus Christ is that very human divine Word of salvation. Jesus is our foundation, our focus and our source of forgiveness. Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +